September 16-27, 2024
Population and Community Health Clerkship

Quicklinks: 2024 Team Catalog and Ranking Survey 

The UMass Chan Population and Community Health Clerkship (PCHC) is a team-based, interprofessional, community engaged experience required of all third year medical students at TH Chan School of Medicine .

 Students work together in small groups focused on a population or community of interest.  Teams are co-directed by UMass Chan faculty, learners and community partners from a range of professions and disciplines.  Each team’s experience is unique, as we strive to connect with, listen to, and learn from people who live and work in the communities surrounding local health care systems.  Teams are encouraged to identify and work toward community-developed goals. Teams develop and deliver relevant informational presentations about specific populations, the resources available for them in the community, and the issues currently being addressed through services and programming for individuals as well as policy and advocacy to improve health above the individual level. 

Morning guest lectures in Week 1 by key stakeholders from relevant local communities will address foundational topic areas in population and community health.  Everyone connected with the PCHC is invited to attend these talks from 8-9:30am during Week 1 of the PCHC; learners are required to attend each morning unless their team leader has made advance arrangements with PCHC administration to view the recording later due to scheduling conflicts with other activities.  The foundational lectures will be available for learners on Blackboard by mid-afternoon each day, and after the clerkship, will be available for viewing on the Lamar Soutter FMCH library guide page.

Independent learning modules activate prior knowledge, provide framing for the two weeks' activities, and prepare learners to complete one short answer assignments for grading.   Opportunities for reflection are embedded within the small group experience.  Learners will answer four reflection questions by the end of Week 1 and write peer reviews of two other teams' presentations on the final Friday.  

In this clerkship, students will: 

● Collect, synthesize, and/or explain relevant population or community-level data  ​

● Learn best practice for connecting patients with interprofessional team members who care for specific populations in the community​

● Use clinician voice for advocacy with a population to improve social and structural determinants of health ​

 ● Apply knowledge in meaningful service toward community-identified goals​

This clerkship provides opportunity for learners to demonstrate achievement of the following milestones: 

• Adv1E. Understands the determinants of health of individual patients and vulnerable populations, recognizing the impact on healthcare access, wellness and disease and uses knowledge to improve patient care.

• Adv3E. Understands the physician’s obligation of contributing to the common good and designs projects or activities that enhance the well-being of others.

• Nav1E. Understands the dual roles of quality improvement and patient safety in healthcare, participating in the identification of, and response to, performance gaps in in existing processes.

• Nav2E. Operates within a variety of healthcare settings, collaborating with interprofessional personnel, and gaining higher-level knowledge of processes including financing and transitions of care.

• Nav4E. Applies knowledge of population health and health equity to how health outcomes vary within and across populations.